The subject matter described herein relates generally to wind turbines and, more particularly, to a method and system for validating a wind turbine.
Generally, a wind turbine includes a rotor that includes a rotatable hub assembly having multiple rotor blades. The rotor blades transform wind energy into a mechanical rotational torque that drives one or more generators via the rotor. The generators are sometimes, but not always, rotationally coupled to the rotor through a gearbox. The gearbox steps up the inherently low rotational speed of the rotor for the generator to efficiently convert the rotational mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is fed into a utility grid via at least one electrical connection. Gearless direct drive wind turbines also exist. The rotor, generator, gearbox and other components are typically mounted within a housing, or nacelle, that is positioned on top of a tower.
In at least some known wind turbines, one or more errors may occur during installation of one or more wind turbine components. For example, a rotor blade control cabinet may be wired in an atypical order and/or a rotor position sensor may be installed with a wrong zero point reference. Such errors may not be easily detectable, at least in part due to a symmetry of the rotor in known wind turbines. If such errors are not detected, mechanical loads may be substantially increased on one or more wind turbine components with little, if any, visual indication of an abnormal operation of the wind turbine. To detect such errors, at least some known wind turbines include redundant sensors that each measure a rotor position. However, errors may remain undetected in such wind turbines because once a first sensor is erroneously installed, subsequent sensors may also be erroneously installed.
Moreover, at least some known wind turbines balance a loading on one or more wind turbine components using an Asymmetric Load Control (ALC) system. Such ALC systems generally adjust a pitch angle of each rotor blade independently to balance loading induced to the rotor. During operation of the wind turbine, an aerodynamic performance of the rotor blades may change. For example, a leading edge of one or more rotor blades may wear over time, thus changing the rotor blade's aerodynamic performance in response to pitch angles induced to the rotor blade. To measure such changes, the use of expensive test equipment is often required.